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Thurston Conservation District presents wildfire plan; commissioners asked about insurance and grants
Summary
Stephanie Bishop of the Thurston Conservation District presented a draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) focused on South County wildfire risk, outlining fuel-reduction priorities, stakeholder outreach, and grant opportunities; commissioners raised concerns about WUI mapping and insurance implications.
Stephanie Bishop of the Thurston Conservation District told the Tenino Planning Commission on July 9 that the district used Washington State Conservation Commission funding to create a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) focused on South County wildfire risk.
Bishop said the CWPP is a collaborative, nonbinding guidance document required to be developed with broad community input and to prioritize fuel-reduction projects and homeowner actions. "What it is not, is not a legally binding document," she said, and added that CWPPs can make an area eligible for grants such as the Community Wildfire Defense Grant.
Bishop described broad stakeholder outreach — "about 80" invitees with a core group of 15–20 regular participants — and participation from local fire districts, US Fish and Wildlife, Wolf Haven International and the Economic Development Council. Project priorities identified in the draft include fire-adapted-community programs (for example, Firewise/ Wildfire Ready Neighbors), fuel reduction including prescribed burns and Scotch broom removal, and wildfire-response coordination and evacuation-route planning.
Commissioners asked how the statewide Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) map interacts with the plan and whether a map designation would affect home insurance and building costs. Speaker 5 said, "People I know…outside of the city limits who have already lost access to their insurance and had to get new insurance." Bishop responded that insurers use their own formulas and that CWPPs themselves do not control insurance decisions.
Bishop highlighted implementation actions the district hopes to pursue, including distributing home-hardening kits to residents and continuing quarterly partner meetings to pursue grants and monitor projects. She said the draft will be sent to the state forester for signature later this summer or early fall, and jurisdictions will be invited to adopt the plan through a DocuSign process.
The commission did not vote to adopt the CWPP during the meeting. Bishop encouraged commissioners to review the draft and consider adopting the plan for city planning purposes, and she offered to provide contacts and follow-up information.
